Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Trading Up 3.9% - Here's What Happened

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) traded up 3.9% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $70.52 and last traded at $69.22. 766,674 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 955,226 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MTH shares. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $73.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.05.

Remove Ads

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.16%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth approximately $248,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 8,102 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 3,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,773,609 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $363,714,000 after purchasing an additional 74,422 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the third quarter worth $370,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 15.9% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,614,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Meritage Homes

Meritage Homes Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and builds single-family attached and detached homes in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Homebuilding and Financial Services. It acquires and develops land; and constructs, markets, and sells homes for entry-level and first move-up buyers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.